Andrews v. Cohen

664 S.W.2d 826, 1984 Tex. App. LEXIS 4995
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 26, 1984
Docket12-82-0064-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 664 S.W.2d 826 (Andrews v. Cohen) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Andrews v. Cohen, 664 S.W.2d 826, 1984 Tex. App. LEXIS 4995 (Tex. Ct. App. 1984).

Opinion

SUMMERS, Chief Justice.

This is an appeal from a judgment in which the trial court held that a debtor’s letter constituted an acknowledgment which removed a debt from the operation of the statute of limitations.

I.K. Cohen (plaintiff/appellee) brought suit seeking a declaratory judgment establishing that he was the true and lawful owner of a one and one-half per cent interest in two limited partnerships, namely, the Texas Recovery Company, LTD. and Camp Hill Oil Company, LTD.; and for judgment on a debt not evidenced by a writing, created by a series of loans of money which appellee made to Robert G. Andrews (defendant/appellant) over a period of years. Cohen also pleaded that the court recognize that the assignment of the partnership interests was intended as collateral and as a pledge to secure the loans and prayed for judicial foreclosure of said collateral because of appellant’s default. In addition, appellee pleaded that appellant had acknowledged, in writing, the justness of the debt sued on and that said acknowledgment was sufficient to toll the statute of limitations.

Appellant filed a general denial, and alleged an affirmative defense of lack of consideration for the assignment of the partnership interests, and in the alternative, pleaded that the assignment of such interests was intended as collateral security for the alleged indebtedness. Appellant further pleaded that the loans became due and payable more than two years prior to the time that appellee filed this suit and that such debt was therefore barred by the statute of limitations and was usurious. In a counterclaim appellant alleged that appellee had conducted a private sale of the certificates evidencing the partnership interests in violation of Tex.Bus. & Com.Code Ann. § 9.504; that said sale should be set aside and appellant declared to be the true and lawful owner of said partnership interests; and that the interest contracted for charged or received on said loans was usurious.

Trial was to the court without a jury. The court rendered judgment that appellee recover from appellant the sum of $78,-555.90 with interest at the rate of 10% per annum from the date of judgment until paid; that the certificates representing a one and one-half per cent interest in the limited partnerships were pledges securing the debt and ordering said certificates sold at public sale with the proceeds, after expenses, applied as a credit to this judgment. It was further ordered that Texas Recovery Company, Ltd. and Camp Hill Oil Company, *828 Ltd. be awarded $750 as reasonable attorney’s fees to be taxed as costs. Findings of fact and conclusions of law were requested by appellant and filed by the court. Additional and amended findings of fact and conclusions of law were requested by appellant but none were filed.

We reverse in part; judgment modified, and as modified, affirmed.

Beginning in 1971 and continuing through 1979, appellee made numerous loans of money to appellant, each based upon an oral promise to repay. Appellee kept a running account of said indebtedness showing dates, amount of loans, interest and balance due. (Stipulated into evidence from PX-5.) On April 10, 1977, appellant transferred his one and one-half per cent interest in the Camp Hill Oil Company, Ltd. partnership and the Texas Recovery Company, Ltd. partnership to appellee. In July 1979 appellee made demand upon appellant for payment of the balance of the indebtedness and on September 4, 1980, filed this suit. Of the total amount of the debt, $60,927.30 was outstanding as of July 13, 1977. On October 2, 1980, appellant signed and mailed a letter to appellee which read as follows:

OCTOBER 2, 1980
Mr. I.K. Cohen
Dallas, Texas
Dear Sonny:
By this letter I am proposing that we arrange for the repayment to you of moneys advanced to me at various times over a period of several years.
We will agree that the total indebtedness as of Oct. 5, 1980 is $90,000.00. This amount will be repaid by me over a period of 5 years commencing Dec. 6, 1980. All proceeds from my 1.5% interest in the Camp Hill & Texas Recovery limited partnerships will be paid to you by the partnerships and will be applied toward the reduction of the indebtedness. To facilitate this, the interests will be assigned to you. I will have the right to redeem these interests at any time during the 5-year period, specified above, by payment of the balance of the indebtedness. When full payment is made, the interests will automatically revert to me.
It is agreed that the amount of indebtedness set forth above includes the total amount of all past advances from you to me plus an amount calculated to pay for a $50,000.00 insurance policy on my life. The proceeds of the policy will be applied to repayment of the indebtedness. The balance, if any, will be paid to my heirs. Funds presently held by the limited partnerships which are attributable to the aforesaid 1.5% interest will be disbursed to you and me in equal shares and will not be credited against the indebtedness. Any suits presently pending between us will be dismissed.
If the foregoing is acceptable to you, please so indicate by signing in the space provided below within 5 days of the date hereof. (Emphasis added.)
s/s ROBERT G. ANDREWS
ROBERT G. ANDREWS
Accepted and agreed to
on_, 1980.
ISADORE K. COHEN

On October 4, 1980, appellee replied to appellant with a letter refusing to accept appellant’s October 2, 1980, proposal.

Appellant predicates his appeal on two points of error alleging that the court erred: (1) in its judgment because $60,-927.30 of the alleged debt was barred as a matter of law by the two-year statute of limitations, and (2) “in rendering judgment for appellee for any sum in excess of $3,625.93 plus accrued interest thereon because the letter offered and admitted by the trial court as a written acknowledgment of debt (PX6) was not sufficient as a matter of law to remove $60,927.30 of the debt plus accrued interest thereon from the operation of the statute of limitations.” In view of their interrelationship both points will be addressed together.

An unequivocal and unconditional acknowledgment of the justness of a debt, which has been barred by the statute of limitations, has the effect of taking the *829 debt outside the operation of the statute of limitations. Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. v. Happy Motor Co., 152 S.W.2d 778 (Tex.Civ.App.—Amarillo 1941, no writ). In order to remove the bar of limitations, there must be a new promise to pay the same in writing on the part of the debtor, and the liability of the debtor depends, not upon the old obligation but upon the new promise. York v. Hughes, 286 S.W. 165 (Tex.Comm’n App.1926).

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Bluebook (online)
664 S.W.2d 826, 1984 Tex. App. LEXIS 4995, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/andrews-v-cohen-texapp-1984.